GAA attendances back under the spotlight

GAA attendances are back under the spotlight, just a week before the start of the 2011 All Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Championships.

Only a little over 8,000 turned out for Saturday’s league finals at Croke Park, despite the fact that four counties were in action on the afternoon. The decision to play the Allianz Football League Division Three final between Louth and Westmeath and the preceding Division Four clash of Roscommon and Longford at GAA headquarters had been questioned by many GAA fans and with just reason.
Officially only 8,130 spectators attended, and it was decided not open up either the Cusack or Davin Stands, along with the already closed Hill 16. More people actually attended the Division Four game, with an estimated 5,000 fans believed to have viewed that match.

With only a week to the start of the championship, GAA bosses will need to take a close look at both their fixture lists and ticket policies if they are to continue to attract the sort of numbers that the games have traditionally claimed.

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